230 bodies found in mass grave in Syria

Updated: Thursday, December 18, 2014, 8:09 [IST]

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Damascus, Dec 18: More than 230 bodies of people believed to have been killed by the Sunni radical group Islamic State (IS) were found in a mass grave in Syria's Deir al-Zour province, a media report said Wednesday.

The bodies are believed to be belonging to the members of a tribe that fought the IS, BBC reported citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Last month, the UN said it had received reports of a massacre in the Syrian province in August. Investigators said that the IS executed the Sheitat tribesmen in a struggle for control of oil resources near the town of Mohassan.

In early November, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi reportedly allowed members of the tribe to return to their homes. They were told to surrender all weapons and inform on all "apostates" to the group.

All "traitors" would be killed, Baghdadi warned in a statement.

The Syrian Observatory said that it had been informed by a trusted source that the 230 bodies had been found by returning members of the Sheitat in a mass grave in the desert near the village of Kashkiya, in eastern Deir al-Zour.